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spiralcass · 1 year

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NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 1, EPISODE 1

Our series opens on Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Archangel, Beast, Wolverine, Nightcralwer, Storm, Colossus, Gambit, and Rogue battling sentinels on the Brooklyn bridge. They exchange banter as they fight, with it clear they’ve been together for a long, long time. After winning the battle, Professor Xavier contacts them and congratulates them on a job well done. Jubilee comes running up to them, really sorry she missed out on the big fight. Least she can do is take a picture though!

We zoom out, as the picture she took is now framed in Headmaster Scott Summers’ office. It’s one year later. Scott takes a deep breath as he sets the picture down. Jean playfully knocks on the door as she enters. As Scott vents his stress, the premise of the series is explained: With most of the old X-Men team having become disillusioned with the idea they could make any more of a difference than they already had, or, alternatively, simply having other opportunities call to them, they disbanded, while Professor Xavier left Earth entirely to be with the love of his life, Lilandra, in space. Recently, however, the Mutant population has boomed into the tens of millions, many of whom are children, so Scott and Jean are re-opening the school, and making it an actual school, to teach and protect the Mutants of tomorrow. But while the kids are set to start arriving in a couple hours, they’re still missing a crucial piece to this new stage of life: they have plenty of veterans signed up to be teachers, but as things stand, there are no X-Men.

Scott is worried he doesn’t have what it takes to run everything and protect everyone. He’s not Xavier. Jean tells him that, no, he isn't it. He’s her amazing husband who she knows will do a better job than the professor ever did. And he isn’t alone in this. He has her.

EMMA: “And more importantly, Darling, you both have me.”

Emma Frost stands in the doorframe, posing overly dramatically, before strutting in and sitting down on Scott’s desk.

As Emma snipes at both Scott’s insecurities and Jean’s “mothering” of him, her deal is quickly gone over. Former major villain who turned over a new leaf, and who, more importantly, actually does have experience running Mutant schools, so Scott brought her in to help get things set up, and is keeping her around just until they have everything running smoothly. Jean cannot wait for her to be gone, while Emma insists she has no intention of leaving anytime soon. As the two continue to bicker, Scott buries his face in his hands, sighing.

SCOTT: “Wish us luck, Professor.”

Later, the school grounds are packed as parents drop off their Mutant children. Here, we’re quickly introduced to the seven main kids we’ll be following.

First, we meet Sofia Mantega, who’s being dropped off by her father’s assistant. While obviously coming from a wealthy home based on the car she shows up in and her preppy style, she’s also shown to be an awkward sweetheart, as she acts like best friends with her dad’s employee, and nervously says sorry to everyone as she makes her way through the crowd, the wind carrying all their words right into her ears as she uses it to carry her bags.

Next, Julian Keller is introduced as a clear foil to her. Floating in the air with his telekinesis, he’s shoving kids and parents out of the way so his family’s employees, who have his bags, have a clear path, Julian barking at all the losers to move and get out of the way as he does so.

Noriko Ashida is thanking one of the teachers, Danielle Moonstar, for getting her off the street and hooking her up with gauntlets to control her powers. We then see those powers in action, as she sees Julian pulling his crap and super speeds over to him, telling him to quit being such a jerk. The two begin their first of many, many, many squabbles.

Cessily Kincaid arrives all alone, on a bus. She takes a deep breath and puts on a big smile as she enters the school, being nice and saying hi to everyone, but no one pays her any attention, apart from some freaked out looks from parents at her metal body, depressing her.

Brian Cruz, also alone, and getting pushed around in the crowd, tags himself, making everyone else move out of his way.

Sooraya Qadir is too nervous to even enter the crowd, but she’s greeted and welcomed by the youngest teacher at the school, Kitty Pryde, who, with a friendly smile, volunteers to phase her through everyone.

In the trees adjacent to the school, we meet our final main kid, Laura Kinney, staring down at everyone alongside her mentor, Wolverine. Logan promises this will be a good place for her. She’ll be safe, she can make friends, she can be a normal kid. Laura maintains she’ll never be or do any of those things. She can act like she’s one of these kids, she was trained to do so, but she’ll never be like them. Logan makes her promise to at least try. She asks why he can’t stay with her, and he tells her this just isn’t the place for him anymore.

LOGAN: “Besides, if I stuck around, you wouldn’t need to talk to anyone else.”

Laura asks about the man in charge. She’s never heard Logan do anything but complain about Cyclops. Does he really trust him?

LOGAN: “Never tell him I said this, but there’s no one I trust more. Besides, he’s got Jeannie watching his back. You’ve got nothing to worry about here, kid. I promise.”

The two awkwardly stand up, neither really good at goodbyes, so Laura just pounces off onto the schoolgrounds.

In the school’s auditorium, Scott is giving a speech to all the new students about what it means to be a Mutant, while also clarifying what they’re here to learn, and that they aren’t here to train to be X-Men, but to attain the skills they need to survive in the world. While Scott is talking, Julian sets his sights on Sofia, instantly smitten by her beauty. He nudges the stranger sitting next to him, asking if he agrees she’s the hottest girl here. Brian, shocked ANYONE would talk to him, nods his head and agrees.

As Scott nears the end of his speech, he does know most of the kids probably have questions about the lack of a current X-Men team. He assures them that they’re working on solving this issue, but until then, enough heroes are gathered here that he promises no one will be able to hurt them.

Cut to an underground base where, paralleling Scott, William Stryker is giving a speech to his small army of Purifiers. The man is genocidal, intent on killing all Mutants, but only because he genuinely believes that Mutants have all been corrupted by Satan and that God has tasked him with his mission, the pain on his face genuine as he recalls killing his Mutant wife and child.

His speech concludes with declaring they’ll be launching an attack on the heart of Mutantkind in America: Xavier’s.

Sofia and Noriko are getting moved into their room. Sofia is being friendly and trying to make conversation while she takes a bunch of pictures for social media, her following quite large, but Nori is disinterested and mostly ignoring her, thinking she just seems like another vain, preppy rich girl, putting on her headphones and some J-Pop to tune her out.

Julian and Brian show up at their door, and Julian starts hitting on Sofia. She “politely” rejects him, saying she unfortunately doesn’t date bullies and jerks. This instantly gets her Nori’s approval as she slams the door in the boys’ faces. Brian pats a bummed out Julian on the back.

Cessily and Sooraya are rooming together. Cessily thinks she’ll judge her like everyone else, like her parents, for her metal skin, but now that she’s away from the crowd, and all the boys in it, Sooraya is much more relaxed and easily hits it off with Cessily, the two bonding as Soo encourages Cess to show off some of what she can do, the girl of mercury having some fun as she does a cheer, implementing her stretching and wiggling. Sooraya applauds her. She explains that she's actually had her powers for a while, unlike the more recently developed Cessily, and she learned quickly not to judge. She does think Cessily could stand to cover up more though.

Scott, Jean, and Emma are walking through the halls. Jean was finally able to get in touch with Storm, in her mind, “the obvious choice”, and she’s agreed to come back to America and join the New X-Men. Other ideas are tossed out, but none of them work for one reason or another, be it Warren being busy running his company, Gambit and Rogue traveling the world, or Colossus still being in mourning "all this time later".

Laura stumbles across the three as she’s familiarizing herself with the building’s layout. Scott welcomes her, asking if she needs help finding her room. Laura puts on her “Normal Girl” act, saying how she was just exploring this school she’s so excited to attend, but Jean and Emma tell it’s okay to just be herself. Laura’s face falls as she tells Scott Logan was right; he does smell trustworthy. So does Jean. Emma doesn’t. Scott lets her know they’re fully aware of her unique situation, and wish to help her anyway they can, but Laura tells him not to bother; she won’t be here long.

That night, Scott is working late in his office, as Jean tries to get him to come to bed. The two are very cute and sweet, but just as Jean is getting him up, they hear a noise from outside. Looking out the window, they see the school being stormed by the Purifiers under the cover of darkness.

Jean wakes up all the teachers and orders them to focus on protecting the students, and orders the students to stay in their rooms no matter what they hear, while the two of them and Emma deal with the attackers, Emma intentionally being a pain to pull away from her beauty sleep.

Meeting The Purifiers face to face, the headmasters, still in their pajamas, demand to know what’s going on here. The soldier in charge explains who they are and their holy mission.

SCOTT: “Different name.”

JEAN: “Different look.”

EMMA: “Same bigots.”

The three proceed to show why they’re the ones in charge, as they easily fight through the immense and heavily armed paramilitary group, forcing them to retreat.

As they flee, Laura jumps out her window and attempts to pursue them, but Jean halts her. Scott questions what she was doing, and she asks in turn why they let their enemies who wanted to kill everyone here live? Scott and Jean make it clear that isn’t how X-Men do things.

LAURA: “You said it yourself, Mr. Summers. You’re training us to survive. Not to be X-Men.”

Laura stomps back inside, Scott in for another rough relationship with a Snikt.

EMMA: "She does have a point."

The other headmasters just glare at her.

The next morning, the kids all begin their classes, and we get a glimpse at some of them. Chemistry with Beast, Drama with Nightcrawler, Chorus with Dazzler, Creative Writing with Karma, and Powers for Self-Defense with Danielle Moonstar (the only class everyone’s excited about).

Looking at all of these kids’ happy faces, and coming off last night’s win, Scott thinks he may just be able to pull this off after all.

SCOTT: “Failing them can’t be an option.”

Elsewhere, in a church, Stryker apologizes to God for failing and says he won’t underestimate the X-Men again. God speaks back to him, promising that he’ll ensure that next time, he’ll be as ready as he needs to be.

#New X-Men #Academy X #New X-Men: The Animated Series #scott summers #cyclops #jean grey #emma frost #laura kinney #sofia mantega #julian keller #noriko ashida #cessily kincaid #sooraya qadir #brian cruz

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